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Valve warns Steam Early Access users that products may never be finished

The implication of Steam Early Access is that those games will eventually be completed. Valve is now saying that might not necessarily be the case.

Steam Early Access is a relatively new idea from Valve, allowing players to help out in the development process by purchasing certain games early for the right to play them in their current state. The implied idea is that these games will eventually arrive at a final release. Now Valve is saying that might not necessarily be the case.

Valve has added a significant caveat to its Steam Early Access FAQ (via Rock Paper Shotgun), stating, "Its up to the developer to determine when they are ready to 'release'. Some developers have a concrete deadline in mind, while others will get a better sense as the development of the game progresses. You should be aware that some teams will be unable to 'finish' their game. So you should only buy an Early Access game if you are excited about playing it in its current state."

While Steam Early Access has always been somewhat of a "buyer beware" proposition, this is the first time that Valve has explicitly made it clear that developers may not finish their product in a timely manner, or even at all.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what is video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

Follow him on Twitter at @Ozz_Mejia for musings and random shenanigans.